CNN anchors admitted surprise Tuesday at their own poll showing Dr. Ben Carson seemingly coming out of nowhere to place second among Republicans for the 2016 presidential nomination.
Still, they weren't too high on the retired pediatric neurosurgeon's chances for success.
"The Lead with Jake Tapper" reported that a new CNN/ORC poll showed 2016 GOP nominee Mitt Romney first with 20 percent support to Carson's 10 percent.
But Romney has repeatedly insisted he won't seek the Oval Office again, so the poll asked the same question without him in the mix. That poll showed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush out front with 14 percent and Carson only 3 points behind at 11 percent.
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"Who is Ben Carson? Where did he come from?" Tapper asked before introducing a pre-packaged report on Carson that talked about his upbringing in a poor household to his rise to lead the first team to separate conjoined twins who were joined at the head.
He gained fame among conservatives when he criticized President Barack Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast in February 2013 and later Obamacare as the worst thing since slavery.
Carson has never run for office, which gives him no political past to attack, but that could also be a negative when opponents and the media seek to find weaknesses.
Jim Geraghty of the National Review said the outspoken Carson would likely do well in debates, but is a political amateur.
"If you've never run for any other office before in your life and you want to run for president, at the very least you have to have directed the invasion of Normandy," said Geraghty in a reference to President Dwight Eisenhower, the last nonpolitician to win the office.
CNN's Brianna Keilar said GOP operatives speaking on background dismiss Carson out of hand and say the poll numbers just reflect high name recognition.
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